TOP 10 Scientific Myths That Are Not True!

Top 10 Scientific Myths That Are Not True!

Science, in the present time, stands for reliability, for clear, replicable, and “true” results.Science is the study of knowledge acquisition through systematic objective (scientific) methods.In other words, according to many people: science reflects the truth, unlike many non-scientific (or pseudo scientific) branches of sport (astrology, alternative medicine, natural religions?).Now I absolutely do not want to say that these last mentioned have no basis for truth, that everyone can decide for themselves.However, what is true is that science is the only one that does systematic and objective knowledge-raising; the others have used alternative methods to reach their conclusions.Science studies, through experiments, tests and measurements.Therefore, we (many people) today rely on science, as if it is the truth.

All beautiful and well, but science can be wrong.For example, scientists have believed for centuries that the body and many of the ailments were caused by a wrong balance in the four juices of the body (also known as the humores).Blood, Yellow Bile, Black Bile and Mucus were balanced according to this teaching in a healthy individual and not balanced in a sick (or dead).Recently (the last few centuries), science has shown that this balanced humores hassle is not entirely as it really looks in our body.A little scientist will not scold these “improvements” into science.After all, progress!There is scientific evidence today that it is not.Research, experimentation and measurements have shown this.

However, sometimes something else happens.Sometimes we think something has been proven scientifically, while it’s not the case at all.Presumably, somebody has ever begun such a fact, by suggesting, and then calling that he or she had scientific support (which may not be the case or which was incorrect).In this list we collect ten phenomena commonly referred to as scientific truths, while in fact, nothing less is true.

Top 10 Scientific Myths That Are Not True!

10. The banana tree

Photo: Rsika / wikicommons

Bananas grow in trees.Everyone knows that.Indeed, most people have seen a picture of (or a real) ‘tree’ hanging out with bananas.However, a banana plant is a monocotyledonous species belonging to the genus Musa, which is a herbaceous plant family.This plant family has varieties of herbs that can grow up to twelve feet high, but a herb remains a herb, it is not a tree.A biological tree must meet more demands than just length, before it can be called a tree.For example, a tree has an outer layer (just below the bark), so that the seedlings are pulled upwards, and a centerpiece that provides solidity, which is largely made of material from previous years.Every year, the outer layer of juices transported inwardly creates a new outer layer around the tree, hence the annual rings in a tree trunk, which you will not find in a banana tree.The strain of a banana plant is therefore called a pine strain.It is a congestion of so-called leaf feet.Also, a banana tribe has no bast.

Other facts about the banana plant that are true:

The banana is one of the oldest cultivated crops (cultivated by humans) in the world, and this plant has already been written in ancient Buddhist writings, six centuries for Christ.In excavations of remains of ancient civilization in Papua New Guinea, traces were also found indicating prehistoric banana cultivation, and these findings were estimated at about 5000 years before Christ (possibly even earlier).

The name banana strongly matches the Arabic word Banan, which means finger.However, etymologists suspect that the origin of the word is actually in Spanish and Portuguese bananas, and in turn they have borrowed from Wolof (West Flanders language).

A ‘bunch of bananas’ can weigh forty kilos.

Bananas are curved because of gravity: because of the weight, the blooms fall down, but because of negative geotropy, bananas all want to grow up straight.This gives the bananas their weird curves.

9. There is one that only thinks with his left brain!

Many pseudo-psychologists nowadays are talking about dominant brain halves.Such a thing, like the story, determines your character, and how good you are in socializing, math and dancing or singing (to name a few).Right brain-dominant people are more creative, for example.

Is that really true too?No, is the answer.Of course, because otherwise this topic was not in these top ten.Research has shown that there is no such thing as dominance from one brain to another.The idea came from the fact that there are certain centers in our brains that handle certain actions for us, and those centers are distributed asymmetrically across the brain halves (that is, the talk center is on the one hand, the computing center on the other ).The idea of ​​left or right dominating brain halves was that people would have more active centers in one half, and therefore would be better in all the matters that were settled on that side.Hence the left or right half dominance.

However, research that made use of neuro imaging (brain photography, more or less) does not return such dominance.So, someone who is well-considered is not by definition a social pariah, and vice versa, a charismatic charm is not necessarily a discalculus.It may be that you have such a personality, of course, but it’s not left or right dominant brain halves!Of course, it can always happen that almost all your star activities are in one brain half, but that’s not enough reason to suspect that it’s always the case for everyone.

8. Bats are blind

Bats use echolocation, a way of orientation that does not make sense, or touch, but hearing is used to determine the distance of the environment.A bat “hears” so its surroundings more or less as we see it.He (or she) sends out loud sounds and records with gigantic ears (relative to their body size) of what sound is coming back.Through this reflection, a bat can say what’s true, with precision that may be more accurate than the average human sight!Therefore, bats are blind …

No, of course.Bats can actually see something.Indeed, there is a large under-order in the vast amount of bats we know that are mainly oriented towards the so-called Megachiroptera (big bats).These foods mainly fruit.Fruit does not tend to jump suddenly and run away, so it’s relatively easy for a bat to catch an apple once he knows where the apple is.For many fruit types, it is better to see than to hear.Perhaps echo location is accurate in indicating ‘shapes’, but colors still can not be seen with sound.And a shiny red apple, or beautiful cherry, that looks the best with your eyes.

However, the other large group of bats typically eat meat (pay attention, mostly insects), and these bats use mainly (but not exclusively) echocardia.Because these bats mainly hunt at night and live and winter in (unexposed) caves, sight is not the best way to maneuver and hunt.Therefore, the evolution has caused these bats to use sound instead.However, like humans, bats can still see.

And that’s not strange.Take people now, we specialize in seeing, but we can still hear and smell.These other ways are not our most important observation instrument, yet they bring interesting and relevant information.So also for bats.They rely mainly on echolocation, but do not think they will not see or smell you!

Vampire bats, the most feared species in recent centuries, do not occur in Europe.There are some of these species in central and south america.These (little animals not bigger than your hand) indeed suck the blood of their ‘victims’, but just like mosquitoes they never drink anything.Indeed, the blood loss caused by such an attack is often not enough to really get faint.An average blood donation will affect you more than these bats.Otherwise, this species is almost never in humans, only in other animal species.Presumably, it is too dangerous to suck blood in people who usually react quite hysterically.

7. Alcohol kills brain cells

Before I go into this myth, just a disclaimer: Brain cells may not be killed by alcohol, but that does not mean that alcohol is harmless.It is one of the most dangerous substances for your body.Although it does not kill brain cells, it makes it very difficult for your brain to function.Use with …

Well, that’s just aside.The general belief is, and this is often underlined by well-intentioned (media) campaigns that try to teach us and our children not to drink too much alcohol, that your brain dies from alcohol consumption.In fact, this is not the case.Alcohol does not kill whole brain cells in a blow.However, what does it does is just as harmful to your body.Alcohol is, in a biochemical way, which we will not treat at all, but can be summarized as complicated that your brain cells can no longer communicate with each other.The cells change structure and this interferes with communication between cells.

Now, you must know that a healthy brain is functioning only healthy because it communicates, precisely because millions of brain cells are in contact.If this contact is disturbed, for example, by alcohol, then you are “in big trouble” as a whole.The result resembles the loss of brain cells, since they do not do what they need to do, but in reality they are not actually killed, simply rendered unnecessary.Either way, it’s never wise to drink too much alcohol, especially if your brain is still in the process of adolescence.Unless of course you want to walk your life with half-lame brain cells that do nothing but get in the way.Look, you have to know, of course …

6. Five senses are all we have

Photo: Allan-Hermann Pool / wikicommons

See, hear, smell, feel and taste.That’s all we have.At least, that’s the traditional combination of senses taught to us from childhood.However, let’s look at the biological definition (here spells out in normal language) of a sense: namely an organ or organ system that enables us to observe certain things from the area.Vision consists of the organ system eye, eyelid, and all associated peripheral body parts (for example, your eyebrow, your eyelashes, etc., all of which are needed to make the eye work well).This organ system allows us to detect light reflections of objects (the sun shines on an object, this object reflects parts of the light, and that part that becomes reflected and falls on our eyelids is what we see) .Hearing, smell, taste and taste work more or less in this way.So all senses.

However, there are more organ systems that perceive things from the environment in such a way.The reason we do not see them as senses is because these observations are often spoken to our subconscious.Take the equilibrium, for example.Our equilibrium (located in the ear) signals directly to our subconscious whether or not we are right, and whether the world is “right” or not.This is how we can stand up straight.Our equilibrium body constantly states whether we are still vertically positioned, or that we “overlap”.In that case, the subconscious makes a nanosecond decision and quickly swipe your legs to correct.You slide your foot a centimeter to the right and balance is restored.Or, in which case, your equilibrium body will once again reflect what the deviation is.If you’re sick or sick, it’s often because your equilibrium system is violently confused with that world that constantly changes orientation, your unconscious can not keep it.The result, you do not feel well.

Our sense of touch is also not as simple as it seems.Your skin has three ways of touch.There is the familiar key-key, as in, for example, you feel your fingers rest on a desktop or lend a person next to you to your shoulder.That is “feeling”.But there is also a separate system in your skin and brain designed to record cold and warmth.This separate system functions separately from feel-touch, and that’s good too, because otherwise you should only feel a pan is hot by touching it instead of getting close to your fingers.Finally, your skin has a separate system of pain.So if someone hugs you, two systems apply (and three if the squeezer has cold claws!).Firstly, there is a sense of taste;You notice that the person touches you.Secondly, there is pain, you feel that the person has stimulated your pain nerves.

Finally, we still treat proprioception (although there are more senses, which we miss out on because of lack of space).Proprioception or position sentence allows a person to perceive where his own body is.This seems to be banal knowledge, but it is very useful, for example, if you are tired and rubbing in your eyes, or want to hide a gauze with your hand.If you did not know exactly where the end of your arm and hand was, then you would accidentally sell yourself a clap, while politely trying to hide your yard.Proprioception gives you unconsciously a hairy ability to “know” where your body is.Alcohol, among other things, disrupts this proprioception.Ask a well-drunk person to touch his nose with his eyes closed.Ask if he wants to do it carefully to prevent injuries!

5. Almost all body heat is lost through the head

Photo: Boaz Gabriel Canhoto / Wikicommons

You have to dress warm and wear a hat and scarf because you lose most body heat through your head.You’ll hear that often enough.However, it is not (entirely) true.It is suspected that this myth originated in an experiment in the fifties, where participants in extremely thick pool cover were subjected to extremely cold conditions.Because they were completely packed except on their heads, it was indeed true that they lost most heat through their heads.

In normal circumstances, however, this is absolutely not the case.It seems, however, because the head is more sensitive to cold than most parts of the body, which makes you feel faster when it’s cold at your head.Covering the head thus gives a much more sense of warmth.However, when testing how much heat is lost per body part, in people who only wear a swimsuit, the head is able to contribute only 10% of heat loss.But yes, indeed, if you completely unpack the rest of your body, the uncovered parts (like your head) are of course the greatest heat leaks.

4. You can see the Great Chinese Wall from space

Photo: Samxli / wikicommons

With radar and satellite cameras you can now zoom in to the backyard of your neighbor.If you interpret it as “from space,” you can indeed see the Chinese Wall too.The wall is probably bigger than your neighbor’s garden (usually).But with the naked eye, you can not really see the Chinese Wall from space.With a hairy camera it can possibly be photographed, but with the naked eye … almost not.The problem is that the material with which the wall is built (natural stone) has almost exactly the same color as the environment (whose natural stone probably came).Fortunately, it’s possible with radar!

3. Different areas on your tongue are responsible for taste

The tip of your tongue is for sweet and salty, and in the back you’ll taste bitter.That seems to be true, and many people believe it’s true, but is it true?No, hence it’s in this list.It is true that taste papillae come in different types and sizes.Some taste cells are able to recognize sweet or salt, and other bitter.In principle, there are five types of flavor identified by cells: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and “savory” (the most recently discovered flavor type).Science suspects that there are still more flavor species and associated cells, but they are not yet known.However, those specialized taste cells are not in groups or parts of your tongue, but everywhere on your tongue.There may be a difference between person to person to the extent that the cells are present (some people taste better, or less, for example) and there seems to be a difference between men and women, but there are no regions on you Tongue for bitter, sweet or salty.But basically everyone has these five (or more) flavor receptors roughly on all parts of the tongue.

2. Brain cells can not regenerate

Once you’ve lost a brain cell, he’s lost forever, want the myth.From your age 25, your brain network is about to grow, and from that age you will only get backward, it seems.But this is fortunately not entirely true.Some brain cells can regenerate (re-produce) like other cells in your body.Skin cells, for example, are constantly reconstructed.That too, because you lose skin cells at a terribly high rate.It would not be helpful if you missed that piece of skin for the rest of your life every time you hit a shovel wound.And that’s not necessary, skin is cleaned up again.

It has long been thought that brain cells were not such that they did not “regenerate”.However, this is not the case for all brain cells.There are some types of cells in our brain that can actually regenerate.It is especially the peripheral nervous system that is capable of regeneration.This is the part between the central nervous system (the major regulator) and the organs.It consists of all your nerves in your spine, your brain stem (located at the bottom of your skull) and some brain nerves (among others).It’s the nerves that control your muscles, which transmit signals of your senses and control your entire internal organ system (intestines, stomachs, liver and so on).Thus, a non-essential part of your body, so it may (to some extent) regenerate.That does not mean that a broken spinal cord is no problem anymore, so be careful, though.

1. Lightning never stores twice in the same place

Lightning has no memory.There is no man (or woman) in heaven with a big hammer, spear, beard or whatever, who controls the lightning and sends her to the earth.Just as little lightning can drop the sinner, nor does it hit ‘never’ in the same place as a previous time.

In fact, lightning is attracted to high structures, and if a landscape has certain outstanding points (such as the American Empire State Building), this place will be hit more often than twice by lightning.It is also measured for this particular building.Twenty-five times a year, the Empire State Building is hit by the lightning on average.

The best thing you can do in a thunderstorm is to make sure you are not the highest point in the area.However, never stand under a tall tree because, although the lightning will not hit you but the tree, it is not guaranteed safe under the tree.The tree can fall over, can break a branch, so on.Hurdle and make you small, that’s a successful tactic.Anything else to help is to sit in a car (but do not touch any metal!), Or draw rubber shoes.Rubber does not conduct flow.It is not so much the impact of lightning, but the current flowing through you flows to the earth that is deadly.If you interrupt that power by wearing a non-conductive layer, you’re a lot safer (though you can still get a shock).Of course it’s best to hide somewhere and generally do not walk around in a thunderstorm.